Threat Intelligence Program: Proactive Cyber Defense

Organizations using threat intelligence detect breaches 28 days faster and reduce incident costs by $1.4M on average. Strategic intelligence transforms reactive security into proactive defense through actionable insights.

Threat Intelligence Framework

Intelligence Types

Strategic Intelligence:

Audience: Executives, board
Content: High-level threats, trends, risks
Format: Reports, briefings, risk assessments
Frequency: Quarterly, annual
Purpose: Business decisions, risk management

Example topics:
- Industry threat landscape
- Geopolitical risks
- Regulatory changes
- Emerging attack vectors
- Budget allocation

Tactical Intelligence:

Audience: Security architects, managers
Content: TTPs (Tactics, Techniques, Procedures)
Format: Technical reports, threat profiles
Frequency: Monthly, as needed
Purpose: Defense planning, tool selection

Example content:
- Attack campaign analysis
- Threat actor profiles
- Vulnerability trends
- Defense recommendations
- Tool effectiveness

Operational Intelligence:

Audience: SOC analysts, incident responders
Content: Specific threats, attack details
Format: Alerts, advisories, IOCs
Frequency: Daily, real-time
Purpose: Threat detection, incident response

Example data:
- Active campaigns
- Exploit details
- Compromise indicators
- Response procedures
- Mitigation steps

Technical Intelligence:

Audience: Security engineers, threat hunters
Content: IOCs, malware analysis, technical details
Format: IOC feeds, YARA rules, signatures
Frequency: Continuous
Purpose: Detection, prevention, hunting

Example artifacts:
- IP addresses
- Domain names
- File hashes
- Network signatures
- Malware samples

Intelligence Lifecycle

Phase 1: Requirements:

Define needs:
- What threats matter most?
- What decisions need intelligence?
- What gaps exist in knowledge?
- What format is useful?
- How often is it needed?

Priority intelligence requirements (PIRs):
1. Threats targeting our industry
2. Vulnerabilities in our technology stack
3. Threat actor TTPs
4. Zero-day exploits
5. Supply chain risks

Phase 2: Collection:

Sources:
Open Source Intelligence (OSINT):
- Security blogs
- Twitter/social media
- Pastebin/dark web
- Public disclosures
- Research papers

Commercial Feeds:
- Recorded Future
- CrowdStrike
- Mandiant
- FireEye
- Anomali

Community Sharing:
- ISACs/ISAOs
- FS-ISAC (financial)
- H-ISAC (healthcare)
- Information sharing groups
- Peer organizations

Internal Sources:
- SIEM logs
- IDS/IPS alerts
- Endpoint detection
- Threat hunting
- Incident response

Phase 3: Processing:

Normalize data:
- Standardize formats (STIX, TAXII)
- Deduplicate indicators
- Validate accuracy
- Enrich with context
- Tag and categorize

Tools:
- MISP (Malware Information Sharing Platform)
- OpenCTI
- ThreatConnect
- Anomali ThreatStream

Phase 4: Analysis:

Analytical methods:
- Correlation analysis
- Trend identification
- Attribution assessment
- Impact evaluation
- Confidence scoring

Questions to answer:
- Who is behind this threat?
- What are they targeting?
- How do they operate?
- Why are they attacking?
- When will they strike next?

Phase 5: Dissemination:

Delivery methods:
- Automated IOC feeds
- Daily threat briefings
- Weekly intelligence reports
- Monthly trend analysis
- Quarterly strategic assessments

Formats:
- Dashboard alerts
- Email notifications
- SIEM integration
- API endpoints
- PDF reports

Phase 6: Feedback:

Continuous improvement:
- Usefulness surveys
- Detection effectiveness
- False positive rates
- Response time impact
- Coverage gaps

Adjust collection priorities
Refine analysis methods
Update dissemination

Indicators of Compromise (IOCs)

IOC Types

Network Indicators:

IP addresses:
- Known malicious IPs
- C2 server addresses
- Attack source IPs
- Tor exit nodes

Domains:
- Phishing domains
- Malware hosting
- C2 domains
- Lookalike domains

URLs:
- Malicious links
- Exploit kits
- Phishing pages
- Download locations

File Indicators:

Hashes:
- MD5, SHA1, SHA256
- File signatures
- Fuzzy hashes (ssdeep)
- Import hashes (imphash)

File characteristics:
- Suspicious names
- File sizes
- Creation dates
- Metadata
- Digital signatures

Email Indicators:

Sender patterns:
- Spoofed addresses
- Malicious domains
- Known bad senders

Content patterns:
- Subject lines
- Body content
- Attachment types
- Link patterns

IOC Management

IOC Lifecycle:

Collection → Validation → Integration → Monitoring → Expiration

Validation criteria:
- Confidence score
- Source reputation
- Context relevance
- False positive history
- Age of indicator

Expiration rules:
- IPs: 30-90 days
- Domains: 90-180 days
- Hashes: Permanent (malware)
- URLs: 30-60 days

IOC Integration:

Security tools:
- SIEM (correlation rules)
- Firewall (block lists)
- IDS/IPS (signatures)
- EDR (detection rules)
- Email gateway (filtering)
- DNS filtering (blocklists)
- Proxy (URL filtering)

Automation:
- API integration
- Automated updates
- Scheduled imports
- Real-time feeds

Threat Actor Profiling

Attribution Framework

Capability Assessment:

Technical sophistication:
- Basic (script kiddies)
- Intermediate (organized crime)
- Advanced (nation-state)

Resources:
- Funding level
- Infrastructure
- Tool development
- Personnel

Intent Analysis:

Motivations:
- Financial gain (ransomware, fraud)
- Espionage (data theft)
- Disruption (DDoS, sabotage)
- Ideology (hacktivism)
- Revenge (insiders)

Targeting Patterns:

Sectors:
- Industries targeted
- Geographic focus
- Organization size
- Technology platforms

Victims:
- Profile analysis
- Common characteristics
- Selection criteria

TTPs (MITRE ATT&CK):

Tactics:
- Initial access methods
- Persistence mechanisms
- Privilege escalation
- Defense evasion
- Lateral movement
- Data exfiltration

Techniques:
- Specific procedures
- Tool usage
- Infrastructure patterns
- Timing/scheduling

Threat Hunting

Hunting Methodology

Hypothesis-Driven Hunting:

Process:
1. Form hypothesis
   "Attackers may be using PowerShell for lateral movement"

2. Collect data
   Query logs for PowerShell execution

3. Analyze patterns
   Identify anomalies and outliers

4. Investigate findings
   Deep dive on suspicious activity

5. Document results
   Create detection rules

Data-Driven Hunting:

Techniques:
- Baseline deviation
- Statistical analysis
- Machine learning anomalies
- Peer group comparison

Example:
Normal: User accesses 5 files/day
Anomaly: User accessed 500 files today
Investigation: Potential insider threat or compromise

Intelligence-Driven Hunting:

Use threat intelligence:
- Known IOCs
- Threat actor TTPs
- Vulnerability exploits
- Attack campaigns

Example:
Intel: APT group using specific malware
Hunt: Search for malware indicators
Find: Dormant infection discovered

Hunting Tools

SIEM Queries:

Splunk:
index=windows EventCode=4688
| search CommandLine="*powershell*"
| stats count by User, CommandLine
| where count > 100

Elastic:
event.code:4688 AND process.command_line:*powershell*

Endpoint Detection:

Capabilities:
- Process tree analysis
- Memory forensics
- File system monitoring
- Network connections
- Registry changes

Network Analysis:

Tools:
- Wireshark (packet analysis)
- Zeek (network monitoring)
- Suricata (IDS)
- Moloch (packet capture)

Hunt for:
- Unusual protocols
- Odd port usage
- Large data transfers
- Suspicious domains
- C2 beaconing

Intelligence Sharing

Information Sharing Groups

Industry ISACs:

Financial Services (FS-ISAC):
- Banking threats
- Fraud patterns
- Regulatory info

Healthcare (H-ISAC):
- Medical device threats
- HIPAA incidents
- Ransomware

Critical Infrastructure (various):
- Energy (E-ISAC)
- Water (WaterISAC)
- Aviation (A-ISAC)

Regional/National:

Organizations:
- US-CERT (United States)
- NCSC (United Kingdom)
- CERT-EU (European Union)
- JPCERT (Japan)

Programs:
- AIS (Automated Indicator Sharing)
- TLP (Traffic Light Protocol)

Vendor/Platform Sharing:

Platforms:
- MISP communities
- AlienVault OTX
- ThreatConnect
- Anomali STAXX

Vendor programs:
- Microsoft Threat Intelligence
- Cisco Talos
- Palo Alto Unit 42
- Mandiant Threat Intel

Sharing Protocols

TLP (Traffic Light Protocol):

TLP:RED - Personal, no sharing
TLP:AMBER - Limited sharing
TLP:GREEN - Community sharing
TLP:WHITE - Public, unlimited sharing

STIX/TAXII:

STIX: Structured Threat Information Expression
- Standardized format
- Machine-readable
- Comprehensive schema

TAXII: Trusted Automated Exchange of Indicator Information
- Transport protocol
- Standardized sharing
- Automated exchange

Threat Intel Platform

Platform Selection

Key Features:

Required:
- IOC management
- Feed aggregation
- SIEM integration
- API access
- Reporting

Desired:
- Threat hunting tools
- Automated enrichment
- Collaboration features
- Case management
- Playbook automation

Vendor Options:

Enterprise:
- Recorded Future
- ThreatConnect
- Anomali
- ThreatQuotient

Open Source:
- MISP
- OpenCTI
- YETI
- IntelMQ

Measuring Success

Program Metrics

Collection Metrics:

- Number of sources
- IOCs collected
- Coverage completeness
- Source reliability
- Data freshness

Detection Metrics:

- Threats detected (intel-driven)
- Time to detection improvement
- False positive reduction
- Hunt findings
- Unknown threat discovery

Response Metrics:

- Mean time to respond
- Incident prevention
- Remediation effectiveness
- Cost avoidance

Business Impact:

- Breaches prevented
- Downtime avoided
- Cost savings
- Risk reduction
- Compliance support

Getting Started

Month 1: Foundation

• Define requirements
• Identify sources
• Select platform
• Establish processes
• Initial feeds

Month 2: Operations

• Integrate IOCs
• Begin hunting
• Share intelligence
• Train analysts
• Measure baseline

Month 3: Optimization

• Tune detections
• Expand sources
• Automate workflows
• Join sharing groups
• Report to leadership

Conclusion

Threat intelligence transforms security from reactive to proactive, enabling organizations to anticipate and prevent attacks. Effective programs require diverse sources, skilled analysts, and integration with security operations.

Success demands continuous collection, rigorous analysis, and actionable dissemination. Start with operational intelligence, expand to strategic insights, and mature hunting capabilities over time.

Next Steps:

1. Define intelligence requirements
2. Identify threat intelligence sources
3. Select threat intelligence platform
4. Integrate with security tools
5. Begin threat hunting program